For the Love of Numbers

Friday, May 02, 2014 - 03:15 PM

It’s hard to think of anything more rational, more logical and impersonal than a number. But what if we’re all, universally, also deeply attuned to how numbers … feel? Why 2 is warm, 7 is strong and 11 is downright mystical.

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In this short, writer Alex Bellos tells Robert how, from the very first time humans ever used numbers, we couldn’t help but give them human-like qualities. From favorite numbers to numbers that we’re suspicious of, from 501 jeans to Oxy 10, our feelings for these digits may all come down to some serious, subconscious inner-math….a deeply human arithmetic buried in our heart.

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Comments [168]

Gertrude N. Poe
from Florida

I think this was very interesting. I don't really have a favorite number. I think I've always tried to make myself have one, but no number seemed significant enough to be my favorite. But I don't like odd numbers besides five, not sure why though. I think it's funny how people can have such emotional bonds to numbers, but the more I hear why people have favorite numbers, the more I understand. The KFC study was also interesting. I would have never thought that 11 would be a significant factor when ordering a meal. Who knew!

I actually do have a favorite number, 10. It is the day my mom was born and she's the one person I look up to more than anyone. I think it's funny how people actually associate odd numbers with males and even ones with females. Numbers and association with gender is an interesting topic to think about. The KFC study also made me laugh. Who knows, maybe I wouldn't eat it if it had only 10 herbs and spices.

I don't have a favorite number, but it's interesting how much meaning people attach to their favorite numbers. It's crazy that the study showed that people associate male with odd numbers and female with even ones.

Wow, this podcast was very interesting. Ever since I could remember I have always had the favorite number, 5. It opens my mind and makes me look deeper into the meanings of simple things that I may overlook on a day to day basis. I would like to research more into this topic; it definitely has my attention.

This was just a very strange topic, yet once you look at it, it becomes immensely interesting. Such a simple question as what is someone's favorite number reveals a ton about an individual. Taking it that extra step to what it reveals about the number and even society is just so insane it tickles curiosity. The idea that this thing that is such a basis for rational thinking goes further into the realm of emotion and irrational thought is so crazy it makes sense. Human beings are creatures so stuck in logic that we deny that we are in need of things that are emotional and unique. Though farfetched, the reasoning as to why SEVEN is the "magic number" actually makes profound sense, and it's exactly the thing the brilliant human mind might create without the knowledge of the thinker.

This was very awesome! It's cool that the 'world's favorite number' was 7, because it's mine as well. I guess it's my favorite because I was born on the seventh day of April, and I moved to where I live now when I was 7. Regardless, it was fascinating to hear how our species humanized the most logical of concepts- numbers. It's crazy that we have all these mental attachments and conceptions about simple digits. Very fascinating, good work!

I found this very interesting because it was very true. We tend to personalize and personify a lot in life and now realizing, numbers. Why? We may never know. Our brain does an automatic connection to feelings or things to numbers and as a society numbers are incorperated in everything we do. Down to stores, foods, anything. I really hope someone figures out the connection we biologically make with numbers soon.

I never thought that humans feel subconsciously toward certain numbers. My favorite number is personally 5, because I was born on November 5. I didn't know that males and females are inclined to like odds and evens based on sex. The charactersitics were different for 1 and 2 which I thought was funny because we do this all subconsciously. I thought it was very suprising that companies use certain numbers to attract consumers.

I would have to say my favorite number is thirteen, my birthday. The connotation that people get with different numbers is very interesting. I agree with the some of the connotations that a specific number gives, especially ten which gives a cold full feel where eleven gives a unique on the edge feel. The idea that odd numbers are male and even are female does not come to mind for me.

My favorite number is 22 the date of my birth which added together is the month of my birth. I hadn't known that 2 is a female number until reading these comments but 22 then must be very feminine, so although 22 is considered a master number by virtue of its feminity it must be a mistress number!But what really wanted to write about is that I see facial expressions in numbers (as well as letters). Not actual faces, I.e., not specific eyes, nose, etc but an expression. The expression of a number may be dependent on the font used. In this font 2 has a sweet placid smile. 5 looks a little angry/confused. 9 is laughing. I was wondering if anyone else sees this. I have seen this expressions since I was a child before I could even read and as previously mentioned I see them in letters, too.

well, i see numbers with colour, so 9 and 6 are my favourites because 6 is purple, 9 is a magenta and an intense 3, very red. 7 though, i hate 7, really hate it. it's an ugly brown and for precisely the reason in the video that it can not be multiplied or divided under 10 i find it messy.

I was really hoping Alex would get back to why having a favorite number is stupid (his word) because it makes no sense to me at all. Possibly if the show had looked into whether anyone has studied favorite numbers and numeracy in the context of helping people learn mathematics ... but no, the only people who really seem to care are in marketing. Using mathematics in science and engineering means we do not have prejudices in favor of any kind of an answer or our results are suspect. However, if something about the psychology of numbers helps people through the STEM door, then why not? I will have to rethink things if someone can show me how to make that work.

I have always been fascinated by numbers, and this podcast made me even more interested. I have always thought about the fact that numbers were infinite, which I think is amazing. But I have never thought about how people have certain favorite numbers, and their reasoning. Through this podcast, I learned that many people have an emotional attachment and reasoning to their favorite number. Most of the time the reasoning does not have anything to do with the number. Now whenever someone tells me their favorite number, I will look at it in a different perspective and how their reasoning is based on emotions rather than mathematical reasons.

My favorite number has always been 2. The simplicity of it comforts me. Two is not very large, but it can be divided evenly. It's the perfect amount of people for a get-together, and for the amount of biscuits I want.

I've never thought about numbers in the way they were explained in this video. One is masculine. Two is feminine. Ten is balanced, but eleven and 501 are on the edge. It was interesting to hear in this podcast the emotional response to numbers by so many different people. Something as simple as the number three could be interpreted dozens of different ways by hundreds of different people. I've never had a favorite number, but a lot of people do apparently. And people have favorite numbers for different personal reasons. Whether its a birthday or the number of goals you scored in a soccer game, numbers go deeper than just their arithmetic meaning. The most fascinating about this podcast to me was that the most favorite number among the general public was seven. In the podcast they talked about how seven is arithmetically unique number among the numbers one through ten. But I found that you could also look at the number seven religiously. In the bible, it took God seven days to make the world. Seven is also referred to as the number of completeness in the Bible. It seems that numbers go far deeper than their mathematical applications.

If I had to choose a favourite number, I'd probably have to say the root of the natural logarithm "e" (2.718....), since it pops up just about EVERYWHERE in the universe, but I don't really have a strong opinion about this in general.

When people were commenting on how the number seven looked, it occurred to me that the Chinese character for 7 (and by extension, the classical character for 7 in east Asia) very closely resembles the the arabic (e.g. the version we use) symbol for 7 (if you include the horizontal bar) turned on its head. If the appearance of the character is what is drawing people to the character, then this might be a unifying principle.

I forgot to mention in my last comment, that my favorite word is a formation or 5 objects in a specific pattern, which is oddly enough not my favorite number. The word is "quincunx" (an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle)

I found this podcast to be very entertaining. It's interesting that humans associate emotions with such abstract things. I hope that additional investigation is put into emotional ties with other abstract concepts. It would be insightful to see how people respond emotionally to letters in foreign languages, or even letters in their own language.

I love all numbers, but my favorite number would most likely be 2, I lived in house number 2220. I met my boyfriend in the month of February which is the second month on 22nd day, even though we didn't declare we were together till the 26th day. I tend to use a lot of 2's in my password, and come up with second options to everything. I use my seasonings by the 2's, so therefore I don't end up using one at a time. My birthday sign is Gemini symbolized twins, 2 people; therefore, I consider 2 my lucky number, I use it a whole lot.

How odd, that the way a number rolls off your tongue can make you feel a certain way about it. Even just by looking at odd or even numbers, can decides if it's more masculine or feminine. However, as to whether it is your favorite number or not, seems more personal than mathematical. Personal being your birth date, an event in your life, or something that affected you drastically. Seven is different though. Granted it is prime, I still feel that's not why so many people are pulled to it. As mentioned in the podcast the majority of people favor seven, but its brought to people's attention more so because of the something called ad populum (since many believe it is so, than it must be so). This leads to a conclusion, that numbers can mean different things for different people depending on how they look upon them.

This podcast seemed interesting at first, but it grew far-fetched in my opinion. The interesting part was the idea that people subconsciously relate even numbers to females and odd numbers to males. The experiment with the babies drew my attention because I know that I will continue to think of numbers as masculine and feminine, now that it has been brought to my attention. The part that I cannot agree with is the idea that people are emotionally drawn to certain numbers and we generally feel that 7 is unique, 11 is mysterious, and so on. I do not feel similarly about numbers so I cannot make such a connection, and the idea becomes far-fetched from my perspective.

It never really occurred to me that I subconsciously felt certain ways toward certain numbers. Also I never thought that people had specific reasons for having favorite numbers. Personally my favorite number is eight but I don't have a reason other then it just is my favorite. Additionally I found it surprising that odd numbers are more likely to be associated with males and even numbers with females. I also wasn't aware that companies use specific numbers to evoke feelings from consumers as a marketing strategy.

This was an interesting podcast. I've never though about how numbers feel before but I have to agree with this. They each have a unique feel and connotation. 7 is my favorite number like many others, but I'm not sure why. It seems somehow heroic and unique to me. The fact that we attribute genders to numbers is very interesting.

This concept that numbers can invoke specific emotional responses is very interesting. Numbers are generally considered very logical and rational; however, most people have preference over certain numbers. The emotional stigmas that go along with specific numbers are applicable to almost everything in life. We are all somehow wired to connect certain thoughts, symbols and emotions with specific numbers, such as how many people connect odd numbers and the number one with males and even numbers and the number two with females, for no apparent reason, and most probably subconsciously. Additionally, companies must also consider the emotional connections that people have with specific numbers in order to effectively advertise, such as KFC using the number eleven in order to connote a personal connection, as if the number eleven has feeling, whereas the number ten is essentially too numerical and logical to feel familiar.

I find this topic very interesting. I have never thought to myself "what's my favorite number?" I just accept them and don't think about them that much. However, if I had to choose a number. I would probably say 4 because it is very symmetrical. Its square root is even, and so is its square. I don't understand why 7 is the worlds favorite number because i don't find it "fun" to say and it is horrible to deal with in math.

It is very interesting how numbers can affect how we view the world. Especially how the simple difference between odd and even numbers can make one see something as male vs. female. Numbers are simply quantities of items but we put them together with vastly meanings. The difference between 10 and 11 is physically one, but symbolically can mean the difference between completeness and mysterious.

I have always seen even numbers as the more male ones and odd as female. My favorite number has as long as I can remember always been '2' though I have no idea why, it just feels like a very pleasant number to me

I have synesthesia and I have the rarest version which is called Ordinal Linguistic Personality (OLP). Synestheisa in general is a neurological phenomenon "in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia)

And OLP is a form of Synestheisa in which ordered sequences (numbers, days, months, letters, etc.) are associated with personalities.

An example of an synesthete's relationship with numbers is something like this: "1, 2, 3 are children without fixed personalities; they play together. 4 is a good peaceful woman, absorbed by down-to-earth occupations and who takes pleasure in them. 5 is a young man, ordinary and common in his tastes and appearance, but extravagant and self-centered..."

I have listened to the podcast and i loved the people were talking about their favorite numbers and giving their reason behind it. My favorite number is the number 15, my favorite number is the number 15 because it can be divided more than one whole number.

I just listened to this podcast, so I'm really late to the show. However, I am amazed that not only do people have favorite numbers, but that they are just regular old numbers. When Alex Bellos first brought it up, although like him, I thought, "why would you have a favorite number?", I expected people's responses to be about actually interesting numbers that appear in equations because they seem to be inherently important. Numbers like e, pi, i, phi, etc. Liking the number seven seem so arbitrary. However, pi is the ratio of circle's diameter to its circumference -every circle, in any number base. The number e is highly related to pi, so it also shows up in circles, and both pi and e are used in myriad ways by devices you use every day because they inherit in the way the world works. Phi is the Golden Ratio. i is part of a orthogonal number system to the day-to-day ones we're familiar with. I can't say I have a favorite number, but man 3, 7, 9, boring, boring, boring.

When i was listening to this, i was pondering My favorite number and, like many others, it's 7. Even before there was theorizing as to Why this was the most popular number, the reason i came up with was "it seems more Prime than any of the other single-digit numbers."

So interesting! My favorite number is 8. It's not just about the shape of 8 but the actual math. For me, it's the "evenness" of 8 that makes me love it so much! The fact that the even number 2 can be divided into it 4 times and the shape further represents its evenness (divide 8 in half and you have TWO circles!). I love it!

13 is my favorite number. 13 is the 6th prime number and also the smallest emirp (a prime that is a different prime when reversed) The number represents change. 13 is the age where a boy begins to become a man. multiples of 13 are also associated with times in ones life that are filled with change. people tend to consider change a bad thing because of a desire to cling to the past and what is comfortable. But if one embraces change wonderful possibilities exist.

Take any 2 figure non-palendromic number, such as 89. Reverse and subtract the smaller from the larger - 98-89=9. Divisible by 9 every time. Add them together and the result is divisible by 11 - 98+89= 187, aka 17x11. Note also that the two integers add up to 17. (Just spotted that myself after 35 years!!)

Take any 3 figure non-palendromic number, such as 487. Reverse, subtract smaller from larger. Result is divisible by 99, keep doing it and you will arrive at 99.

Zero is the first number. You count, 0, 1, 2, 3 or 0, -1, -2, -3 etc. You always start with zero! But most people ignore zero. It is the first number in the numerical system, and highly, highly important.

The number system did not originate in Iran/Iraq the decimal system originated in India, was then taken to the west by the Arabs that invaded India. The earliest writing of which are as old as 458 AD. http://www.vedicsciences.net/articles/history-of-numbers.html

I unfortunately just got around to listening to this and am kind of shocked by how I reacted. Mostly that I disagree so much with most of the world liking 7. It's actually upset me to the point of wanting to debate people and prove to them that 8 (my preferred single digit) is superior to 7. Just thought that was kind of strange.

I was terrible at simple arithmetic, still am. For me, each number had a personality that was to me more fascinating than the number itself:

1, just ok, 2 better, well meaning, good intentions,but waiting for 3 3 very stable, useful as a middleman, liaison 4, a loyal friend, dependable always 5 business like, fair, but private, 6 busy, like a bagger at the grocery store, keeps things moving, 7 -NO! Lazy!Screws everything up - slows everything down, shiftless, slacker, but egotistical, a show-off, while the others are doing their best. 8 -very very solid and dependable, I always respected 8, always helpful, tries hard, accepts it will always be junior to 9, 9 who doesn't really deserve the credit it seems to get just for being next to 10. 10 is the goal, the ticket taker at the booth, the checkpoint that after you get by you are free to travel about and can't get lost as long as you keep 10 in sight -- not much personality, just a landmark.

My favorite was 8. I liked 8 for its uncomplaining attitude, had to clean up 7's work, never complained just prepared the way for 9 and 10.

I felt these very strongly, they had conversations amongst themselvesargued, and earned me failing arithmetic grades throughout elementary school.

PS in China, the phone numbers are longer than 7 digits (too many people for just 7) and yet they are memorized, so maybe the Chinese have a way of thinking of numbers that sees them in clusters, or maybe it has to do with the language, which requires interpreting tones and inflection to understand the word. I believe it was radiolab that ran a show about so many Chinese having 'perfect pitch' being maybe due to that need to hear nuances in pitch. Maybe this has something to do with the ability to memorize ' longer' numbers?

The "male/female" thing about numbers creeps me out, especially as described in one of the comments. It bothers me that anyone would consider male and female different, as the whole point of that "truth" is to rationalize unequal treatment and assessment of abilities. Of course that might be related to me being a sports-loving math and science inclined straight female who finds the whole "gender identity" thing puzzling. In short, I'm human married to a human.

I like 8, my husband likes 9, and once we found that out when we first met, we use 17 too. To me, 8 is like a fist, strong. And regarding another comment, I'm atheistic so I don't relate the idea of "lucky numbers", when not applied to the level of superstition, to religious beliefs. I have liked 8 since I was a kid and it happened to be backed up by my zodiac sign which has 8 as its number. However, being mathematically inclined, I like most numbers and look for patterns in them too. I don't think there is any number I dislike or hate.

My favorite number is 17. It has always felt like the true oddball of numbers. I think I already liked it before my Freshmen year of college, but I had a quirky Math prof who taught Calc I freshman year, and whenever he needed to throw a constant into an equation, it was always '17.' I think that sealed the deal between me and 17 forever.

Late to the party, but I think it's simpler than that. Dice have been around for a long time and seven is the most common sum. It wouldn't surprise me if there were dice long before most could understand the probability of a seven and were shocked and amazed that it would come up so often.

I was a little surprised that people are surprised that odd numbers are male and even numbers are female.

Split an odd number in half and right there in the middle is another number. For example, right in the middle of 11 is 6 with five numbers above and below. That middle number sticks out like - well - a distinctively male organ.

Split an even number in two and in between the halves is a space. Again, I am looking for a polite way to say that space conjures up femininity.

I think the Greeks were the first to look at numbers this way. They also thought that 10 is a perfect number because it is the sum of 1 (the first number), 2 (the first female number), 3 (the first male number), and 4 (the first square).

This whole discussion is deeply rooted in culture. None of this makes any sense to someone born and raised in a non-numerate society. For example, I lived with a people whose only "numbers" were 1, 2, mobs and big mobs. Favourite number? Meaningless. Gendered numbers? Meaningless. And so on.

I was listening to the podcast on remixing radio lab and noticed how much numbers were mentioned in one of the remix. I noticed that the number seven was used a lot. I would cool to find out what the most popular number is used on the show. I would love to know.

Attention Statistics Instructors: Ask introductory students for their favorite numbers to illustrate simple distributions and statistics. [You will find that 3, 7, and 8 are always among the most popular, as the blog reports.] Then compare the numbers from the back row of students to the front row, writing down beforehand that you predict that the front row will have HIGHER average numbers than the back row. If the samples are large enough, your prediction will be confirmed around 90% of the time, as I have found after 30+ years of this exercise. The front row students will choose a higher number of 7's and 8's. It's a trap to be sucked into an "explanation" about this result in terms of student aspiration, intelligence, alertness, conspicuousness, personality, or whatever.

My favorite number is i. It's a number that doesn't exist at all, but can be used to make calculations about numbers that do exist. That's like me, a biologist, using an example about unicorns to make discoveries about sparrows.

In A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the number 42 is said to be the answer to the meaning of the universe question. I've always wondered why 42 was chosen. My theory is that 7, the universally perfect number, and 6, the number that commonly represents evil, were multiplied together.

I am a middle school math teacher and I just listened to the podcast this morning. I decided I would share it with my classes, but only after taking a poll of the students' favorite numbers. In four of the five classes, seven was the most popular favorite number.

I do not have a favorite number.I also do not believe in God. Or, actually in homeopathy, juju, astrology, the shroud of Jesus. I just don't get it.

Are people who do have favorite numbers more likely to also to incorporate faith into their belief systems? Do wider cultural belief systems follow this pattern? Or maybe I'm over-thinking favorite numbers.

I do not have a favorite number.I also do not believe in God. Or, actually in homeopathy, juju, astrology, the shroud of Jesus. I just don't get it.

Are people who do have favorite numbers more likely to also to incorporate faith into their belief systems? Do wider cultural belief systems follow this pattern? Or maybe I'm over-thinking favorite numbers.

After listening to this podcast, I just had to comment on my brothers favorite number. He was born on my parents 7th anniversary, he weighted 7lbs. 7 oz., in the year '49 (square root to 7) and his name is Steven, remove the t and it spells seven. Needless to say his favorite number is 7.

I immediately though of psychology's "magic number 7 plus or minus 2". The average person can keep 7 chunks of information in working memory, which is why telephone numbers have 7 digits, as others have mentioned. From this perspective, 7 represents using your human potential to the fullest. The magic zone between bored and overwhelmed where humans can achieve "flow" experiences. The average person can picture the first seven digits in their mind, all at once. (Or seven *anythings*.) But for most, eight is too many. So it seems reasonable that there is a comfort in 7, and also something exciting or interesting because it is right at the edge of that comfort.

Since the "magic number 7" is a fundamental property of human thought, it seems more compelling to me than arithmetic or geometric explanations. It does lead us to the next interesting question: Why did humans evolve to be able to handle 7 pieces of information, and not some other number? Maybe *that* has something to do with the 7 visible celestial objects...

hey guys i don't know if anyone has mentioned this yet but maybe seven is the world's favorite number because the human brain can only easily remember seven numbers, and that is why phone numbers have seven digits. At least that is what I have heard; I don't know if it is true.

I thought the bit about the personalities of the numbers; I definitely do this, but I think I relate the shape of the numbers more to facial expressions. For example, 6 is kinda pouty, 2 is slightly smug, and 5 is cheerful. But they're not really gendered. However, I do also have synesthesia, which means that for me, numbers each have a color as well as a general feeling. Odds are sharp, spicy or sour, hot and high (in space); while evens are round, earthy, cool, watery and low. I know this sounds totally weird, but it's always been the case.

I don't think I have a favorite number, though. I don't have a favorite color, either; I think there's a perfect number or color for a particular situation, but I wouldn't say one is "better" than the other objectively. Because of the color synesthesia, though, I do find certain combinations of numbers to be more attractive than others. My phone number is really pretty, for example.

At about the time that this episode aired, I had just read up on the origins of the 501st Legion -- the Star Wars costuming organization made popular by its appearance at the San Diego Comic Con in addition to members' efforts and passion. They explain on their website that the "501st" was devised from the founder's own numerical aesthetics -- 500 was a nice enormous number, the "f" sound sounded good, and the addition of the "1" gave an illusion of authenticity. This episode elaborated further on seemingly illogical preferences for numbers.

Interesting idea: In Jewish mysticism, 7 represents nature and natural law. There are seven days in a week, seven days in the biblical story of creation, seven musical notes before the 8th repeating note in an octave, 7 colors in the rainbow that the average human eye can recognize-- this list goes on and on. On the other hand, in kabbalistic thought, 8 represents the supernatural (idea of seven heavenly spheres and God outside the seventh, 8 days before circumcision to represent the supernatural bond with God, in the Hannukah story the candles burned for 8 days,etc). People are more comfortable with natural things-- perhaps the obsession with 7 is in some way an extension of that.

It is kind of a peculiar that we give such emphasis and emotion when we display certain numbers. Every person has a number that is dear to them and appeals to certain numbers in different ways. How can such a emotionless creation have such an emotional impact on our daily lives?

Two is my favorite number because so many beautiful mathematical ideas are based on it---Euclidean space (or more generally Hilbert space), duality (dual spaces, Fourier duality, Lagrange duality). It is tends to be the first number where things get interesting, such as using base 2 for number representation, or how many classical game theory problems can be most simply described with only 2 agents. It is also frequently the *last* level of approximation we can practically handle---we almost never deal with 3rd order approximations and beyond, but very frequently deal with 2nd order approximations.

In first and second grade we had endless sheets of practice addition. It was more dull than I could imagine or bear. I turned the single digit numerals into personalities so that I could watch the soap opera of the numbers each day. There was nothing unusual in the personalities or genders assigned. But, each even number was a female and each odd number was male. The super star of the daily numeral show was 7. 6 and 8 struggled for him each day. I was actually 6 years of age. So, I rooted for 6 to win against the sophisticated 8. Sometimes she did win. Sometimes she did not.

And there is the club med 45 story. Apparently in 1995, the French resort chain Club Med create a series of T-Shirts with the number 45 on them, to celebrate their 45th anniversary. The shirts were selling like crazy. Everyone wanted them. in 2000 they figured, hey, it's now 50 years, this worked so well 5 years ago, let's make shirts with 50 on them. No one wanted them. It's been 18 years since they started making them, and to this day the 45 T-shirt is one of their most popular items. Go figure.

Pi. It's where you want to be. It's the universe's one. Try breathing without pi, you can't. (the cycle of respiration) Try seeing without pi. you can't. (wavelength of light) Everything everywhere is filled with pi.

Pi makes me want to sing:It has to be pi, you ear or your eye, it has to be pi!

This could be over simplified, but I believe Sesame Street deserves some credit. I can't help but think a generation of people started to attribute feelings towards numbers with those one minute "Count" clips and cartoons.

I am not the first, but I have to weigh in on the subject of 7. It is so fundamental to the way space is ordered. Start laying identical coins down on the table in a cluster. No matter what you do with 2 through 6 coins there is no fully enclosed center coin. At 7 you can create a hexagon with all 6 outer coins touching each other and the center. For the first time you are able to enclose one of the coins. Suddenly you have a stable interior. This symmetrical arrangement of 7 circles is built into the way nature orders itself from (yes, as previous comments have noted) bowling pins, to beehives. A little visual for radio, but still I'll bet RadioLab could find one or two interesting to do with this.

For the Love of Numbers' "The math got into the culture" + Jad's first of three Ancient Garbage Greatest Hits from Detective Stories = female 6 * male 1 * female 6... The Number of The Beast, 616, "used to either summon the best or to keep the beast away because you can't say [The Beast's] name directly". So... if we're making positive use of these two stories, what is the significance of 1.) 616 = The Number of The Beast, and 2.) 666 = The Number of The Beast, or, at least 3.) If The Number of the Beast has versions and the number 6 bears (bore?) some association with The Female, what is the significance of both versions having a greater number of 6s than 1s?

I was a Mormon missionary for 2 years in Argentina. We knocked (or clapped) at a lot of doors in my two years. It was understood among us missionaries that 7 knocks or claps was the best number because 7 knocks has a complete sound to it. Even 20 years later I still knock with 7 taps.

This is a very interesting podcast and makes me think of how I think of numbers visually. A tactic I would use in math class is to have a picture pattern to help me with addition and subtraction. I formed this in grade school and still use it today. I start from bottom to top.30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 ...and so on.20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 19181716151413121110987654321Does anyone else have a visual pattern?

As Brandon from Tobaccoville, NC points out, 7 circles self-assemble into a hexagon. That is, If you take 7 pennies you can organize 6 of them around the 7th. The hexagon is an incredibly important shape in physics and nature. So, Dr., one can love the number 7 for many reasons including its beauty of assembly.

It is strange to think that the whole way in which we represent numbers is only socially constructed. I had never thought about the connotations we attach to numbers that are either unrelated or intrinsic to their mathematical properties. Are we conditioned to respond more favorably to some numbers over others?

I'm surprised that any aspect of synesthesia wasn't explicitly mentioned in this short episode (lack of time, most likely). Reading through comments, I do get a sense that there are other listeners out there who are aware of their own ordinal-linguistic personification of numbers, but does anyone else experience grapheme-color synesthesia associated with numbers?

My favorite number is 13, and 23 (I can't pick just one!!). It's weird to think of my favorite numbers as masculine! Or unlucky for that matter! Since elementary school I remember thinking how different the number 7 was. That it is an awkward number that just doesn't divide nicely like most numbers do.

I have to say that my favorite number must be zero. The revolution that was caused by the idea of having a symbol for nothing certainly changed how to dealt with numbers. And one can argue that with the concept of zero and the use of zero as a placeholder in our numeral system, we would not have computers as we know them today.

My favorite number is 5364, just because I like the way it rolls off the tongue. It came to me when I was a teenager. Oddly, I think I remember where I was when I came up with it, but I don't remember why. I think I just said it as a "random" number and liked it. Now I'm 50 and I still like it.

Numbers carry so many meanings in so many different cultures and believes. For example, in Christianity God created the world in 7. How did we even choose how many days there are in year, week, month, hour, sec, etc? I don't think is surprising that people think numbers have personalities or characteristics. Many don't realize our whole life is dominated by numbers. They control people's actions, whereabouts and thoughts unconciously. There is no time to waste and we even put a price on it. Having a favorite number just adds to one of the many fantastic and mysterious ideas that originated as the concept develped. Numbers help get us through everyday life.

gematria is the jewish practice in which the letters have number value. it is a style of Scripture interpretation that links the numerical and semantic realm in a meaning enhancing way, put in the best light... nonsense say others... enough to drive you crazy, say yet others, which the greatest work of Yiddish Theater shows happen to the young scholar, Channon before becoming a Dybbuk... and a fun entertainment and avenue for establishing and nurturing the kind of Number Love this radiolab short was about.

As for me, I have many Number Friends, but the one based on Gematria includes my birthday number 26, which was the same number on the year I was born as the lunar calendar, one of those moderately rare synchronizations of the day of the lunar/Hebrew month and the secular date... but for me, being a person who believes in G-d, the Hebrew Letters for God, Yud Hay Vav Hay add up 10 + 5 + 6 + 5 to be Twenty-Six. Love God, love twenty-six, love my birthday. Which can all be said to be fairly mad, which is fine, except that my affection for twenty six is real. Bob Minder

Sam from NYC's comment rubs up against the crux of the matter. Numbers have historically (going WAY back) had far more to do with shape and space than with the ghostly abstraction our modern minds invest them with. One of the guests of the show said that "seven doesn't have nice symmetry." But the fact is that all so-called "odd numbers" display symmetry. Seven, for example, may be expressed as:

1111111

Or, to arrange it so it's easier to see:

111 1 111

7 displays "centrality." Counting from either end of the construction, it's "center" is 4. Our "even numbers" don't balance this way.

And this is just one way to arrange 7. Sam from NYC notes another typical construction.

I have always seen numbers (and letters) as gendered, though their designation was far more arbitrary than just evens vs. odds. However, I always liked the number twelve for its mathematical properties over it's aesthetics. It's so divisible for such a small number!

Has anyone ever watched any of the tennis players bounce the ball before they serve? They hardly ever bounce it an even number of times, and it is often a "prime" bounce. I've done it myself and have had to acknowledge that bouncing the ball an even number of times doesn't "feel" right....

I have to share this: I caught my self patting my dog 13 times without trying to or even thinking about it..sometimes 7 would also come out. I think it is very interesting because these two numbers are prime! This makes me wonder if these prime numbers are actually in my brain naturally. Has anyone else encountered this?

Another great moment where I thought- wow! I'm not the only one! I've never thought of numbers having genders, but I have always had a strong sense of their personalities since I was a child. I was very particular about numbers I like and don't. 127 has always been my favorite.

I don't think it's a coincidence that I was pessimistic about last year- I was 31 in 2013- and I can't stand either of those numbers. Glad I'm not the only weirdo. :)

I loved this podcast. It was something I never really thought about before, but this episode made me consciously acknowledge my favorite numbers are 2 and 5.

When I tried to explain why, I thought it might be that they play well with others. They seem friendly. Like, I could imagine them being on a playground and going up to lonely 13 or 11 and saying, We can make something of you! Join all us other numbers over here! This explanation was especially odd because all my life, I've thought of myself as a non-conformist. But clearly, if I were, then 11 or 13 would be my favorite number.

As a kid a Double Bubble Gum wrapper told me my lucky numbers were 7 & 9. I have used them since as sports uniform number, Lottery picks (never won) or when ever I needed a number I include 7 or 9 or a combination including one or both. Not sure how lucky they are, but it makes me feel better for trying.

Growing up, my favorite number was 8. Don't know why, it just was. Interestingly, I remember trying to rationalize it after the fact, citing everything from it looking kinda like a sideways infinity (which was cool) to the fact that my home state was the 8th to ratify the Constitution and join the Union. (I was a weird kid.) Truth be told, I just have to go back to my earlier statement -- it just "was". It just "felt right". Can't explain it beyond that.

As I've grown older and gotten more involved in math (minored in it in college, still enjoy numbers today) I've found plenty of other numbers fascinating for various reasons (mathematical and otherwise), but 8 has always held a special place in my heart.

1401. Loved trains all my life, grew up in Atlanta and my favorite color is green, so big Southern Railway buff. SOU 1401 is the only Ps-4 class Pacific not scrapped when the Southern dieselized (she's in the Smithsonian). 1401 also contains 401, which is the displacement in cubic inches of the Nailhead V-8 that powered my first car.

51 runs a close second, as the rider number that's won the Tour de France more often than any other--even more often than number 1, which is worn by the highest finisher returning from the previous year.

I do like 7, but I've always been partial to 11 and 14, as well as 29. 29 just has a lot of significance for me such as my birthday, my Mothers birthday, The day of my Wedding etc.

I think though that its a bit of a stretch that 7's arrhythmic is inherent and easily understandable to make it special. While it is true, I think it is probably more likely that when its significance was discovered, it was highly regarded by knowledgeable people and was thereby engrained in culture. I know for sure that I because aware of 7 not from my own thoughts but from cultural things like movies, gambling etc it is ingrained in our cultures that 7 is a lucky and special number.

Seven is the first nonmonosyllabic (word?) number we reach, it sticks out within the First Ten because of this. On the flip side, twelve is the highest one syllable number we have. I think 360 is cool because of its use as a circle and all the numbers we can divide into it.Have you guys read "The Man Who Counted"- great number stories in there.

I was disappointed to find that the discussion of the popularity and notoriety of the number seven didn't include any mention of dice or gambling. The number seven is the most likely number to be rolled on two 6 sided dice, making it thus "lucky number seven". Dice have been around for as long as recorded history making it very likely if not certainly the case that the number seven became lucky as a result of gaming and not because of any beauty, symmetry or mathematical properties of the first 10 digits.

Before listening to this podcast, i had never given thought to if there was an underlying reason why people chose favorite numbers. For some reason i can understand why odd numbers seem masculine and why even numbers seem feminine, but I do not think that this has anything to do with a persons favorite number. I think that a persons favorite number has to do with somebody's experiences or preferences. I, for example, like 16 because it was my number in sports. I think this is the way many people choose a favorite number.

This is such a strange concept. I often see numbers as one of the few immutably objective ideas in the world, but they are evidently far more than that. Somehow (and I now realize that I probably do this) we put a certain amount of emotional association with numbers, which seem to have no rational causes. It is just mysterious to me.

I think it's particularly odd that people feel obligated to add emotional baggage to numbers. Numbers are but a tool we've used for over centuries and it amazes me that people think there is more to them. Numbers aren't the emotional part what they quantify is the emotional part, that guy who has that job to join them with promotional stuff is weird,,

Kind of stupid, but i guess he was right, numbers do feel different (at least to me), even though it doesn't make much sense. That's insane though that this guy's job consists of companies hiring him to market their products with numbers that supposedly get their message across better.

As someone who has always been good at math and, honestly, prefers it to other subjects, I have never attached any emotional "baggage" to any number. It is possible that somewhere in my subconscious one number is more attractive than another but directly I agree with the man who did not understand what all the excitement was about with favorite numbers. It is also extremely ironic that the majority of the world's favorite number is seven because it is unique. The number has become so completely the opposite of unique just because everyone is picking it just for this quality.

At first my my favorite number was 13 because everyone was down on it (poor little number didn't do a thing to get all that hate) and you got to root for the underdog. But once I hit the higher level maths I switched to "square root of -1"; it has so many fun implications that even infinity doesn't. Plus it has the added entertainment value of making people's neurons smoke when they try to grasp it.

I find it funny that people have biases towards numbers. I guess it could be the same reasoning as people having a favorite color or liking some shapes over others. Humans definitely connect their feelings to everything they can see (and even things they can’t see!). I can kind of wrap my head around the reasoning behind why 7 is the overall favorite, but why not 3 or 1 or 0?! I personally don’t have a favorite number, or digit for that matter.

I have always wondered what made one number more popular than another. I'm not surprised that seven is the favorite number, especially since it is mine; however, I still am not sure why seven is so likable. I greatly agree with the comment that humans tend to connect feelings to everything they do and see.

Very interesting discussion! No surprise that 7 is everyone's favorite number. I'm on a soccer team and before every season some people fight for that number. I know that in some religions the number 7 is representation for wholesomeness or perfection. I gravitate toward some numbers more than others but I never understood why. For some reason I hate the number 5.

Just wondering, can you guys release a recording of everyone's responses? Or break down the releases by groups? I think it would be very interesting for us all to see what others said. I know I left a response, but I do want to see the other ones.

It's interesting to see what people think of numbers. Some peoples reasoning's are ridiculous. How people see 1 as lonely and 7 as lucky is interesting. In other countries 7 is unlucky. O, 6, 8, 9 are auspicious numbers in Chinese culture. Number 2 is lucky because they have a saying " good things come in pairs". Number 3 is lucky because of the three important stages in life: birth, marriage, and death. Numbers are interesting.

This was a weird but fascinating NPR. I didn't expect anyone to have an interest in asking people what their favorite number is and then someone actually give an explanation of why that was their favorite number. Some of the reasons were funny because they just sounded ridiculous. Although when people were explaining the meaning of the number "1," it made sense to say that the number "1" means independent. I also find it interesting what people think about the number "11." Number "11" is an odd number that doesn't divide evenly in any way. It's a unique number. I found it fascinating that odd numbers are predominately toward males and evens toward females. It is a weird process that they had for that theory but made sense in a way. Numbers have a weird way in life and a weird meaning to people but the theories behind the numbers make sense to what the mind is thinking.

You guys left out an absolutely fascinating counterexample to the "7 is the world's favorite number" claim! In Japan, seven (shichi), along with four (shi), are extremely unlucky and undesirable numbers due to their phonetic proximity to the word for death, "shinu." Buildings often omit the 4th floor and gangsters drive around with 7s and 4s on their license plates intending to intimidate.

Place one bowling pin down. Now put a circle of bowling pins around it, as tight and dense as possible. Exactly 6 pins fit around, no cramming, no extra space, just a beautiful hexagon made of circle around another identical circle.

Take your 10 pin triangle and knock off each corner, you get the same beautiful 7 pin shape. I'm surprised your mathematician didn't notice this. It is basic tiling math.

I disagree with the reasoning why 7 is the overall favorite. It is simply a significant number. For example there are 7 colors in the rainbow, 7 musical notes,7 sins, 7 virtues, 7 elements of design, and so on. I think the number 7 is just impossible to ignore. I would say humans were mesmerized by the 7 colors appearing in the sky as if by magic long before the concepts of math kicked in.

Everyone has always had a favorite number, but nobody is ever quite sure why. I feel that everyone knows it subconsciously but can never understand the underlying reason behind it, and I feel that the fact that RadioLab has gone in depth into defining numbers is interesting and that there are actual reasons that the brain defines a number and the reasons behind them.

I favor the number 3. I associate it with the color green. When I became interested in photography (and took art classes) I wasn't surprised to learn about the 'rule of thirds'. A visual composition that most people find pleasing. I've never liked even numbers. I think because I find them to be too balanced and structured. ???

Love Radiolab. Love. Four is my favorite number. Twice two, also two squared. And it's solid, dependable. One might consider it boring and one would be wrong. I do, however, remember spending a fair amount of time in my youth, resisting the appeal of three and seven. I made a conscious decision to turn away from the easy charms of those popular numbers, and I set my sights on the four, a number you can build on.

As long as can I remember numbers have distinct personalities 1,5,6, and 7 are boys(5 is a fireman)2,3,4,8,9,and 10 are female. It has nothing to do with arithmetic. They're a group of people I've known a long time that have relations with each other.

I recommend Daniel Tammet's Born on a blue day--he sees numbers as landscapes which enabled him to memorize pi out to something like 10,000 decimal places to raise money for a foundation! He has a similar emotional link to words that endows him with a remarkable gift for languages.

I want to call b.s. on some of this. For example, the 10 in Oxy-10 has to do with the level of benzoyl peroxide and doesn't have much to do with marketing and feeling more regimented. The mysticism is a little silly to me. But on a different note, I prefer Nigel Tufnel's explanation of why eleven and not ten: "it's one louder."

Thanks for this nice podcast! If you ask me why women are to 2 as man are to 1 I would say it relates to the pair of chromosomes that determine sex in humans. We could maybe say that women have "doubled chromosomes", XX(2) while men have unique chromosomes, XY (1)... does it make sense for any one else?

I like even numbers in general, and the numeral 8 in particular. It's a soft, feminine number. And it's a part of 18, my birthdate, and chai, which is life (in Hebrew). It was interesting to hear that even numbers are feminine and odd numbers are masculine.Also, though I'm not fond of the number 7, it's the number of days of the week and how many holes in the human head (as seen with the skin intact over the face), which makes it interesting.As to the idea of 1 being man b/c of 1 penis, and 2 being woman b/c of 2 breasts… men have 2 breasts, too,though usually smaller than women's breasts (not always!)…. so that didn't work in my mind.

How can we really label or define numbers in general? I mean they're just symbols that we use in a variation of ways and fields. There's math, where we use numbers to solve logical equations and arrive at a solution by the set values of those digits. Then we can take it to a whole new spectrum, the educational system, where these symbols are used to desribe levels of intelligence or achievement on a test, on a subject, or a class in general, and where we're going to end up in life. With all these broad areas giving definitions to these numbers, how can one claim that 1 is for male, or that the number 2 is for female alone? It all really depends on our personal schemas of them in the end.

Seven has always been my favorite number and I can't really explain why. I do remember being seven years old, sitting in my bedroom and writing the number 8 and thinking "I hate 8, I don't want to be 8". So the affinity for one number and dislike of another seems to be pretty deep rooted yet still inexplicable for me.

The concept of numbers being associated with feeling is very strange to me. I have never had a favorite number and find this quite odd. Arithmetically speaking 7 being the world's "favorite number" makes a lot of sense to me but i question if the way we say the word effects any feeling towards it.

I like 9. It is odd & while it is not prime, besides 1 & itself, it is only divisible by a prime number (3) to achieve the same prime number (3). I'm not at all a math person, but I do like puzzle games such as kakuro. I don't associate any adjectives with the number except handy. Why do I feel it is handy? I guess see above. 9/3=3 just seems convenient somehow.

I was just a little bit sad my own favorite number didn't make the edit. It's the twelfth root of two. It's the multiplier between semitones of an equally-tempered (Western) musical scale.

Well, truth be told…I was furious about it, which is ridiculous, but I was indignant on behalf of my favorite number. Which is silly, isn't it? I guess there's something to this idea that people get invested in a number.

When I was growing up, our house number contained the string 802, our phone number contained the string 802, and our ZIP code also contained the string 802. You'd think 802 would be an obvious choice as my favorite number, but it's not. It's 7.

I was born on the 11th. The house my parents owned was at 811. The middle numbers of my social security number is 11. Currently, I live in apartment 211, previously I lived in the street address 2211. Finally, I'm a Gemini which looks like the number 11 in some symbols.

I loved this story. I have synesthesia and all of the male/female, feelings, color, etc. for each number makes perfect sense to me. My favorite number is 11, so I found the spices discussion very interesting. I love the number 11 because I find it simple, strong, clear/white in color, pure.